ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON, DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS
Could it be Del. Allen Dudley's version of Sen. Madison Marye's perennial bottle bill?
Only time will tell, but, yes, Dudley has refiled a bill that created quite a scene last year between the Rocky Mount Republican and House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.
The bill would revoke a little-known state law requiring motorists driving on two-lane roads to honk their horn while passing another vehicle.
Last year, near the end of one of the most partisan General Assembly sessions on record, Cranwell stood on the House floor and argued that the law is needed in his district to make driving safer.
Dudley's bill was defeated on a party-line vote.
Republicans said Cranwell's actions were nothing more than partisan politics.
A few days after the bill was killed, Dudley carried a horn into the Capitol building and honked it at Cranwell every time he passed him in the hall.
Dudley said Wednesday that he expects the bill to raise less controversy this year, "but you never know."
For those unfamiliar with Marye's bill, the venerable Shawsville Democrat tried for years to get legislation passed to require refundable deposits on cans and bottles.
His effort, which he saw as a way to help clean up Virginia roadsides, was unsuccessful.
Griffith to push proportional panels
When the votes for a procedural resolution setting rules for the House of Delegates first flashed on the electronic voting board last week, there were 96 green votes in favor and two red votes in dissent.
Del. Whitt Clement, D-Danville, switched his dissenting vote before the voting closed; his red light had been a joke to razz the House Democratic leadership.
But Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, didn't flinch; his "nay" was no joke.
The second-term Republican later explained that his vote was a protest of House rules that give the minority GOP scant representation on key committees.
"I felt it would be inconsistent to vote for the rules that set up the system I think is unfair," he said.
Griffith plans to follow up on his protest by introducing a constitutional amendment that would require proportional committee assignments. In other words, Republicans, who currently hold 47 of 100 House seats, would get nearly half of the slots on each committee.
Under the current system, House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, controls committee assignments. Friday, Moss reduced GOP representation on the 22-member House Appropriations Committee from 5 to 4.
"I think that's outrageous from a standpoint of good government," Griffith said.
The Republican concedes his proposed amendment has little chance for approval this year, but said he will introduce it as a matter of principle.
Animal house
The House of Delegates had little business to conduct during the first week of the 1996 session as it waited for the Senate to get organized.
On Thursday, Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, decided to lighten things up a touch.
Shuler rose to announce that the departure of Sen. Clarence Holland of Virginia Beach left the legislature with no medical doctor in its ranks. So Shuler, a Blacksburg veterinarian, offered to "serve the medical needs of the General Assembly."
"So my veterinary license is not jeopardized, I request that members visiting my office walk or crawl in on all fours," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB